A popular way to wager on the financials sector on Monday was on pace for its best daily rise in about six weeks, according to FactSet data. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF, which closely tracks the S&P 500's financials sector was gaining 1.24%, with all of its components in positive territory in late-morning trade, putting the financials-focused fund on track for its best one-day climb since July 3. Notably, shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , among the larger components in the ETF, and Citizens Financials Group Inc. were leading the charge, up at least 2%. The rally in financials helped to power a 0.9% climb in the broad-market S&P 500 and coincided with a global rebound in equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.1%. Gains in the banking sector come even as the 10-year benchmark yield hovers around historic lows at 2.21%. Higher yields tend to be bullish for financials loan business, but doubts that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates and unwind its $4.5 trillion balance sheet has kept rates. Sluggish inflation and recent tensions between North Korea and the U.S. has amplified the slump in yields.

Barclays PLC's international credit card unit is getting a new chief executive. Barclaycard International has hired longtime card industry executive Barry Rodrigues to run its operations, a position that he is expected to take over in November, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

BEIJING--China's foreign-exchange reserves rose for a sixth straight month in July, underscoring Beijing's success in keeping money from moving offshore with some help from a weaker U.S. dollar. Reserves rose $23.93 billion from the previous month to $3.081 trillion, the highest level in nine months, according to figures from the People's Bank of China released Monday.

Banks stock jumped in premarket trade Friday, after the release of better-than-expected July jobs data. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF climbed 0.6% ahead of the open, after being unchanged just prior to the jobs data. Shares of Bank of America Corp. rallied 1% ahead of the open, after being up just 0.3% before the data, while the data helped push J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s stock up 0.8% from up 0.2%. Elsewhere, shares of Citigroup Inc. went to up 0.9% from up less than 0.1%, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s stock was up 0.7% after a pre-data gain of 0.1% and Well Fargo & Co. share went to a 0.8% gain from a 0.1% rise. The economy added 209,000 nonfarm jobs in July, beating expectations of 175,000.

Citigroup Inc. was downgraded and Well Fargo & Co. was upgraded at BMO Capital, as analyst James Fotheringham said investors should close the "pair trade" he had been recommending for the past 2 1/2 years, in which he was bullish on Citigroup and bearish on Wells Fargo. Fotheringham cut his rating on Citigroup to market perform, after being at outperform since February 2015, and raised his rating on Wells Fargo to market perform from underperform. Fotheringham said the "valuation gap" between Citigroup's stock, which had a discounted valuation, and Wells Fargo shares, which had a premium valuation, "has narrowed appropriately" in his view. Following results of the Federal Reserve's comprehensive capital analysis review (CCAR) and Citigroup's successful investor day, "we do not see further catalysts to support this trade." Citigroup's stock rose 0.6% in morning trade and Wells's shares tacked on 0.5%. Year to date, Citi's stock has run up 14% and Wells's stock has lost 2.8%. Meanwhile, the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has gained 7.7% year to date and the S&P 500 has climbed 10.6%.

LONDON-- HSBC Holdings PLC said it would regularly buy back shares if it has extra capital, in the latest sign of strength from the global banking giant. HSBC said Monday it will buy back another $2 billion in shares, adding to the $3.5 billion stock it repurchased since last year. The transaction announced Monday is part of a new pledge by the bank to regularly buy back shares if it can, in contrast to the earlier purchases that were specifically linked to capital it freed up by selling its large Brazilian unit.

Citigroup stock price target raised to $81 from $78 at Instinet

Copper, once buoyed by optimism over President Donald Trump's infrastructure plans, is now being powered to fresh highs by optimism over China. Prices for July delivery were up 4.1% at $2.8405 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday -- its highest level since May 2015.

Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF , an exchange-traded fund that tracks big financial firms listed on the S&P 500 , is poised for its best daily percentage gain since late June as bank stocks soared on Tuesday. The ETF rallied 1.5% to 25.28, spurred on by strong rallies in Citibank Inc. , Bank of America Corp. , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , and Morgan Stanley on relatively solid second-quarter earnings. The broader market is also trading higher with the S&P 500 up 10 points, or 0.4% to 2,479, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 120 points, or 0.6% to 21,636 and the Nasdaq adding 3 points to 6,413.

General Electric Co. told investors that profits are under pressure and they would have to wait several months for a better sense of its business, sending shares tumbling to their lowest levels in years.

Many economists may have underestimated the role of improvements to the supply side of the eurozone economy. And there are still plenty of supply side measures at both eurozone and national level that could improve actual and potential growth, writes Simon Nixon.

Chris Arnade walked away from Wall Street after 20 years to photograph and write about America’s disaffected poor. The 52-year-old says the new career is a conscious attempt to reconcile his multiple identities, and perhaps atone for his time in finance.

Behavioral science can help organizations improve their ethics and compliance programs, but wading through the academic prose of such research reports can make them less useful to the people tasked with overseeing those programs.

The greatest legacy of the past 10 years has been a dramatic rise in intergenerational inequality, writes Simon Nixon. The older generations were spared the costs of the financial crisis while those of working age have seen very little increase in their income or wealth.

Iraq is set to raise $1 billion through its first independent international bond sale in more than a decade, bankers aware of the transaction said on Wednesday, as the war-torn country looks for cash to support its finances.

Aug. 2, 2017 at 4:59 p.m. ET

on The Wall Street Journal

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Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup, Inc. is a global financial services holding company specializes in banking and financial solutions. It offers a range of products and services among individuals, corporations, governments and institutions such as savings, checking, online banking, individual retirements accounts, credit cards; personal, student, and commercial real estate loans, cash management services, home equity, and bill consolidation, as well as online banking services, cash management, transactions, trade, securities, and fund services. It operates through the following segments: Global Consumer Banking, Institutional Clients Group, and Corporate/Other. The Global Consumer Banking segment consists of four geographical consumer banking businesses that provide traditional banking services to retail customers through retail banking, including commercial banking, and Citi-branded cards and Citi retail services. The Institutional Clients Group segment offers corporate, institutional, public sector and high-net-worth clients around the world with a full range of wholesale banking products and services, including fixed income and equity sales and trading, foreign exchange, prime brokerage, derivative services, equity and fixed income research, corporate lending, investment banking and advisory services, private banking, cash management, trade finance and securities services. The Corporate/Other segment refers to administrative functions including finance, risk, human resources, legal and compliance, and others. The company was founded on October 8, 1998 and is headquartered in New York, NY.
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